Product Review

By now you have likely heard about Tiny Whoops and micro quadcopters. These little flying machines are fun to fly indoors alone or racing with a group of friends. Recently, the online community has introduced a new twist: the ability to convert one into a tiny hovercraft!

Alexandre Desvignes was the original pioneer of the idea and design of the Tinywhoov. Since then, hobbyists and manufacturers have created their own versions of the machine.

Now, the blade-inductrix-switch adds its own twist to the design: The ability to convert it from a micro drone to a hovercraft. The blade-inductrix-switch RTF comes preassembled as a hovercraft and is ready to hover out of the box.

This kit comes with everything needed to get hovering.

Because of the way the hovercraft “floats” on a pillow of air, the lack of traction makes it fun to drive and drift over carpet, hard flooring, or even water. The Switch operates much better on laminate flooring, concrete, hardwood, or a similar surface. On carpet, it takes a bit more power to give the hovercraft enough lift to counteract the extra friction, which results in shorter battery life. The Switch is also conformal coated, which makes it water resistant—perfect for hovering across puddles or other bodies of water!

The frame of the hovercraft is made of molded EPP foam and rigid molded plastic. The EPP foam skirt offers superior durability when bumping into furniture and walls and is dent-resistant. The nose of the frame is round to roll out of corners in the event of a head-on collision. There is no reverse on this aircraft!

The Switch is made of durable and dent-resistant EPP foam—perfect for bouncing off walls and furniture.

The optional FPV camera adds a whole new level of fun. Instead of cruising around line of sight, you can attach an FPV camera and get a mouse’s-eye view of the action.

Half of the fun of a hovercraft-type vehicle is drifting. Because of the way that hovercraft operate, they lack any form of traction. It can be frustrating at first to adapt to how this vehicle handles because the momentum will carry it out of a turn if you’re not careful. After you get the hang of it though, you start to use the momentum to make wide, sweeping turns then power out of them at the right moment. It’s super exciting to nail a drift around a corner and come out of it at a high speed.

There are two control modes while in the hovercraft configuration. One mode allows for simple one-stick operation. The left stick controls the forward thrust, downward thrust (or “pillow”), and yaw. Two-stick control mode places thrust and steering on the left stick and pillow control on the right stick. This mode would be preferable in circumstances where you might need more control over a surface, such as on carpet or water. The onboard LED shows what control mode the hovercraft is set to, and a simple stick maneuver will change between the two modes.

The Switch comes with SAFE technology and it is easy to switch from flight mode to hover mode. Removing the flight frame from the hovercraft frame is a literal “snap.”

The ducts snap into the plastic molded frame

Unhook the ducts from the body, pop the flight frame out, and hook the ducts to the rear of the flight frame. After a quick stick maneuver, the Switch is ready to fly.

The frame itself is an interesting innovation. All four ducts are removable—and effectively replaceable—in case one breaks. The design of the frame sets the ducts, motors, and propellers farther apart compared with the conventional micro drone frame. This, theoretically, allows for a more stable aircraft because the arrangement of the propellers gives it a bigger footprint.

In flight mode, the Switch isn’t exactly impressive or powerful, and wouldn’t be an option if a customer wanted a raw racing or aerobatic aircraft, although one could upgrade and customize it later. But the real fun with this product is the versatility and creativity of the switchable hovercraft design.

The included propellers use different colors for the front and rear of the aircraft to help with orientation